The bodies of 62 Spanish soldiers killed earlier this week when their Ukrainian-operated plane hit a mountain in northeast Turkey were flown home on Wednesday aboard three Spanish military planes.

The coffins, draped in the Spanish flag, were loaded by Turkish soldiers aboard three Hercules C-130 transport planes, which started taking off for the Torrejon base, near Madrid, at 4 a.m. (local time).

A military ceremony involving Turkish and Spanish officials was held at the airport before the last six coffins were loaded onto the third plane.

All 74 people aboard the plane - 13 Ukrainian crewmembers and 62 mostly non-commissioned Spanish officers returning from peacekeeping missions in Afghanistan and Kyrgyzstan - died when the YAK-42 aircraft flew into the side of a mountain as it attempted to land to refuel in Trabzon, on the Black Sea coast. (Albawaba.com)